1:6b

All over the world: This is an exaggeration used to emphasize that the gospel had spread to many places in the world. Such an exaggeration is called hyperbole. If you do not use hyperbole in your language, you could translate this part of the verse:

to people in many places

bearing fruit and growing: This is a figure of speech. Paul said that the gospel was bearing fruit and growing like a tree or plant produces a crop and grows.

bearing fruit: This probably refers to the way a person changes after he becomes a Christian.

growing: This refers to the way the message about Jesus was spreading throughout the world and more and more people were believing it.

You need to check if these figures of speech make sense in your language. If not, you could change them to a simile, like this:

A healthy plant continues to produce good fruit and grow bigger. In the same way the message about Christ is causing many people to behave as God wants them to, and it is causing more and more people to believe the message.

In some modern English versions, the translators have removed the figure of speech completely. For example:

It is producing results and spreading all over the world. (God’s Word)

1:6d

and truly understood the grace of God: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as truly is literally “in truth.” There are two different ways to understand what this means:

(1) In this verse most English versions understand it to mean “the truth about the grace of God.” Here are some other ways to translate this verse part:

[you] came to know it [the grace of God] as it really is (Good News Translation)
-or-
you came to know what God’s kindness truly means (God’s Word)

(2) In some English versions, it means

the grace of God: Here Paul used the word grace as a synonym for the gospel. This is the message that God graciously/freely saves those who trust in Christ. In many languages the term the grace of God must be translated as a clause. For example:

how kind/gracious God is

See “grace” in Key Biblical Terms and meaning 2 in the glossary for further help.

General Comment about 1:6b–d

In some languages it may be helpful to reorder 1:6b–d. One way to do this would be:

When you heard that God would freely forgive you if you trusted in Christ, you understood and believed God’s message as it really is. Now you are behaving in a way that pleases God. In the same way, people in many places ⌊have heard and believed this message⌋ and they are behaving in a way that pleases God. So the message is spreading to others.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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